Speaking a foreign language at work? (employee, interest, office, illegal)
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It has always been considered rude to speak a foreign language among people that do not understand that language. We are not talking about visitors in Vegas or Disney. People have no sense of basic manners anymore.
Exactly! 99% of the time I refrain from using my 2nd language when in the company of others who don't speak it (I'm not talking about strangers here, I mean people that I know).
And for that 1% of the time that I do use it in front of acquaintances, it's b/c I'm saying something about them.
....And for that 1% of the time that I do use it in front of acquaintances, it's b/c I'm saying something about them.
See, and most people with an IQ over 3 know this. When someone is talking a foreign language, they're probably talking about someone else. And if they're not, they can't prove it. So they need to cut the scheit out. It's rude scheit.
It's unfortunate that people here are denigrating a young guy doing a normal entry level job. If you had a better job when you were 20, fantastic, but most people didn't.
Also, these people telling you that it's normal to speak foreign languages at work and it's not a problem are living in some kind of crazy fantasy land. I'm not remotely reactionary but this should not go on in a workplace because it's divisive and annoying (precisely the things that the original poster is complaining about).
I worked in an office where most people were from Pakistan or Poland. Those from Pakistan spoke Urdu all day and those from Poland spoke Polish all day. It was awful hearing that drone all day. It's not about thinking that they're talking about you. If they were speaking English you'd at least be able to follow the conversation but a foreign language is just annoying noise.
That said, I absolutely would not complain about it. No manager is going to tell them to stop. It's possibly illegal to tell people that they can only speak English at work. These sorts of low-paying jobs also rely on immigrants to do the work. Just try to ignore it and look for other work.
It has always been considered rude to speak a foreign language among people that do not understand that language. We are not talking about visitors in Vegas or Disney. People have no sense of basic manners anymore.
No it is not; it is rude if the other person is included in your conversation.
Absolutely. It's manners101. I have never seen this behavior in the white collar world. Unless you are working in the foreign consulate office with one ethnic group, seriously, I have NEVER experienced this. Obviously some job sectors an industries just attract people of low class. I say blame it on the employers. They prefer to hire people out of certain ethnic groups, whether so they can pay them cheaper or because the business caters to the clientele of the ethnic group. And yea, it is a bias.
Not uncommon in the white collar world. I experience this often. When I was working outside the US, I also spoke English with other American workers, not the native language of the country we were in unless it included a native worker. It is actually pretty stupid to speak to another American in another language just because not in America, I cannot imagine anyone thinking this is normal.
The only rule is that during any business talk, meeting, etc, it is in English; private conversations it does not matter.
It is a BS rule made up by immigrant fearing idiots who think of their own culture as being so weak, it will be replaced by another one.
Flip it around, no American in their right mind would speak another language to another American just because not in America. I could imagine being in Russia and having a private conversation with another American in Russian, ridiculous, never happens anywhere. Just as two corporate Banco Santander employees from Spain in Miami are not going to converse with each other in English during a private conversation; or two Renaissance Capital employees from Russia in NYC are going to speak with each other in English during a private conversation.
I'm 20 years old and work nights at a retail store stocking shelves, nothing special.
Anyways, I have a problem I would like to see advice on. There's about 4-6 people from a certain ethnicity who speak their language to each other often. Some mostly speak English to each other, but there's a couple who will ONLY speak their language. And it's not like they are whispering, they are havign FULL OUT conversations, not to mention ones voice is high pitched and annoying as Christ!
I have a problem with it, because it makes me and possibly others uncomfortable. I'll be walking by and they will give me a glance and speak in their language. I need to find out something for work, but I cant hear because they might be speaking about the same topic in a different language. This is absurd.
Should I complain? It is disruptive to work chemistry. I just fear the possible backlash. I'm not white, and I have 3 managers: one white, one who is the ethnicity of those speaking the language and one who is mixed.. However they are all born here and don't have a clue what they are saying.
They are Filipinas aren't they? All my filipino relatives still like to speak tagalog when together.
Lets be honest you are just annoyed because you are scared they are talking about you. It should not affect you ability to work. Ignore it.
Typical liberal logic, the main reason why integration is so poor in Western countries
A couple of them arent and it hinders myself and others on the trailer line.
Too bad I cant invest in headphones, since my work doesnt allow them.
In which case the problem is that they are socializing at work and not working, so that makes it an issues for your supervisor or manager. The language they are speaking doesn't matter.
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